Nancy Pelosi is speaker again, eight years after she last held the gavel. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

House Democrats, in their first act of the 116th Congress on Thursday, officially elected Nancy Pelosi to serve as speaker, returning the gavel to the longtime Democratic leader eight years after she last held it.

The speaker election was not without controversy, however. The California Democrat had to cut a handful of deals over the past two months with would-be opponents to shore up the support needed to win the floor vote, even though no one was challenging her for the post.

Updated 8:07 p.m. | Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican and a high-profile supporter of President Donald Trump, told Roll Call on Thursday that he would not seek the top GOP slot on the House Judiciary Committee.

“It’s been made clear to me, talking with leadership, that I’m not going to get that job, so I’m not going to do it,” he said. “It would be a waste of my time; a waste of their time, so I’m not going to pursue that. What they decide with ranking member on Judiciary is up to Leader McCarthy,” a reference to Kevin McCarthy of California, the outgoing majority leader who will be minority leader in the next congress.

House Republicans on Wednesday elected Rep. Kevin McCarthy as their minority leader over Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a decision that improves the likelihood that one day the California Republican might be speaker.

McCarthy has vowed to lead Republicans back into the majority over the next two years. If he succeeds, the chances of him being elected speaker would be significantly higher than had Republicans held the majority this year.

Chris Pappas won the Democratic nomination in New Hampshire’s 1st District on Tuesday. (Courtesy Chris Pappas for Congress)

Chris Pappas, a member of New Hampshire’s executive council, has won the Democratic nomination for the state’s swing 1st District, defeating a better-funded candidate who only recently moved to there.

He starts the general election to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter as the slight favorite against Republican former police chief Eddie Edwards. In a contest of firsts, Pappas would be the first openly gay representative from the Granite State, while Edwards would be the state’s first African-American member of Congress.

UPDATED 6:55 p.m. | With the clock ticking toward the release of publishable blueprints of 3D-printed guns, Democrats held a press conference Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to implore the White House to stop it.

As of Wednesday, nonprofit Defense Distributed will publish on its website instructions to build a 3D plastic gun named the Liberator. Democrats are worried these guns are undetectable, untraceable, and unrestrained: they won’t have a metal part and won’t be detected by metal detectors, they will not have a serial number to be tracked by law enforcement, and anyone will be able to build them without a background check.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions arrives to testify before a House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing in Rayburn Building on April 26, 2018. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Turning Point USA’s High School Leadership Summit kicked off its second day Tuesday with remarks from seven Washington officials, beginning with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Senator David Perdue.

Sessions commended the students for being politically aware at such a young age. While most students are focused on “pop culture or the latest fad,” these students were focused on the well-being of their country, he said at George Washington University on Tuesday.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions went to the House to ask Republicans to support the immigration bills the chamber will consider Thursday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Confusion and chaos ensued Wednesday as House Republican leaders conducted a haphazard whip effort on a compromise immigration bill they planned to bring to the floor the next day. The prospects for the bill passing were clearly poor.

The frenetic feel of the day was similar to March 23, 2017. House GOP leaders spent that day engulfed in conversations with members as they tried to whip support for their bill to partially repeal and replace the 2010 health care law in an effort to vote on the law’s anniversary.

Rep. Thomas Massie created a fuss on K Street last week in chastising an unnamed lobbyist whom he said offered to help him raise money to secure a seat on the Ways and Means Committee. But apparently, the Kentucky Republican still wants political donations from K Street — in a smoke-filled room, no less, according to an invitation obtained by Roll Call.

Massie, in a documentary series called “The Swamp,” said a medical device industry lobbyist proposed helping him raise campaign money and assisting him in getting on the tax-writing and health-focused Ways and Means panel, according to a report in Politico.